I understand that people might think £44k is a lot of money for a household income. But if you live in London or one of the major cities, the cost of living is higher. For many families, child benefit can mean the difference between being able to buy clothes and other essentials for their kids, and not.

Everyone gets that we need to save money. But I’m still not clear why the very richest are not the ones paying the price for the credit crunch.

I’m Anita, a mum to two under 5s, a blogger, journalist and author. I’ll be blogging about all things family related whether that’s ranting about legislation, or a general heads up about something to make family life happier and less stressful.

39 Responses to Do you support scrapping child benefit for those families earning over £44k?

I agree, just because a family has a higher than average income, there are likely to be more costs going out of that household such as higher mortgages, student loans, cars having to be run to commute distances to jobs. We also have to pay for all our childcare costs and do not get any help with this. We have no more disposable income than some lower income families. We have also had out Tax Credits stopped. People should not be penalised for having good jobs, child benefit is a universal benefit to help all children regardless of a families income and makes a big difference. The cuts go against the principle of eradicating child poverty.

Is that what they’re going to do? One of the things I noticed about Ireland is, despite all their problems, that they’re a lot more generous to Mums. For two kids here, the child benefit (not means tested) is over 300 – compare that to the UK, even with the exchange rate. What happened to supporting the people that are bringing up the future generations?

OMG I didn’t realise they were doing that, we will be greatly affected as we can only just afford to get by each month as it is and now we have a new baby I am very worried for our future. For a family man Mr Cameron has done nothing but take from families since he arrived! The future does not look bright at all 🙁

God help us all. Can’t afford a house in the place I work and live (renting), not much hope of shared ownership, can’t afford a holiday, can’t afford a new car. 44,000 is a joke if you live in London. People earning a combined wage of 44,000 are not rolling in cash. In fact they are close to the poverty line. This will effect us so badly. We cannot afford to lose the £130 ish we get a month for our two children. Why are we being punished for daring to work hard. It is tempting to move out of the country or just give up work and let the state deal with us!! Do the government know how demoralised we are? Working our nuts off, paying tax and living honestly when so many people are laughing at us from their big town houses that the council gave them for being goodfornothing work dodgers. My partner and I are devestated that us, the working people earning a moderate to low wage, are being punished first rather than the benefit scrounging, cash-in-hand working, free-loading, tax-dodging underclass in this quickly disappearing down the toilet country.

I too just fall into this bracket of the so called high earners. Having already lost the pitiful amount of child tax credit we received, we are now to lose child benefit for our three children. Call us old fashioned but we made a decision that my wife would stay at home and bring up the children while I go out to work. My wife runs a small business from home to supplement our income – and I mean small, it nets us around £200 per month, just about the amount we will lose. From what I have read thus far these cuts will apply to high rate taxpayers only and will not be based on household incomes as a whole. Surely this should be means tested. How on earth is it fair that two tax paying parents earning say £35000 per year each will not lose their benefit yet we will? Taking the example to the extreme a household could earn up to £87,998 and still claim child benefit yet an individual earning £44,001 will lose theirs. Do the maths Mr Osbourne.

It’s not going to affect us as our income is too low, but we don’t have a mortgage or have foreign holidays or new cars. I feel sorry for those it is going to affect and I agree that it should be means tested. There is a big difference between those who need their child benefit (whatever their income) for their children’s clothes and shoes and those (like some I know) who can afford to pay it into their children’s savings accounts.

I cannot believe I have woken up to this!! I am a stay at home mum with a 3 yr old and a baby of 5months. We will fall in to the group that will lose child benefit as my husband works really hard as a sales manager 5 days a week then to top up he works 3 nights a week as a Dj. I do have a casual job which prob pays around £50-150 a month on top of child benefit. We live in a rented house as due to our debt we cannot buy. My husband pays for everything to do with the house, bills etc, and we only have a company car. I pay for my debt clothes and food for the 2 children and try to cover any other small extras like birthdays in the family etc. The problem we have is there is no spare cash and my husbands 3 nights are what covers the cost of the payment of £500 to his ex wife and their 2 children!! What really bugs me is we are gonna be left to really struggle while his ex will still get the payment from him, child benefit and she has a full time job as both children are in school, oh and she owns a house and new car!!!! Unfair springs to account!

If not for ourselves, then for our children. It is time to PROTEST. I know that we are British, but please, can we buck the trend and take to the streets. The Tube strike today should be a lesson to us all. Sure, it’s inconvenient but at least they fight for what they believe in? What do WE believe in?

I feel sad that it will affect the people on the line of this limite, but if you earn more then yes you should receive less from the government. Yes richer people should pay more then poor folk. There is nothing saying you have to live in London. We relocated back to the North East from Berkshire when our children were born. Yes it was a hard decision, but I would rather spend time with them that both have to work to pay the mortgage. Life is hard, there are no jobs here for me in the NE, my career will suffer, but our children are our priortity NOW. The richest will have to pay the proce for the credit crunch – it was the bankers etc who started to cause it.

I am in absolute shock at the unfairness of this. We have 3 children under 6 yrs and we have decided that I stay at home for the time being. My husband having recently been made redundant from the Audit Commision (thanks to the Tory’s) found another job but took a sizeable pay cut. We are now £45 away from the losing about £180 a month. I understand there has to be cut off but surely this cut off is too low. Whilst child benefit might just be Starbucks pocket money to someone earning £80k+ it is essential to people earning at the level this will have an impact on. I have always voted Lib Dem and feel so angry that they could be part of this awful decision.

No. It’s a universal benefit that said ALL kids were important, ALL mums were important. It was a bit of money that went to the mum, not the dad. Women in difficult domestic situations had money of their own (and we all know that isn’t dictated by wealth). SAHM could have a little economic freedom without going cap in hand. Now, that’s changed, and that’s sad. And what about the link between CB, pensions and NI? We will lose our CB. I’m a SAHM, will I also lose my pension protection? Seems to me that the Tories are attacking women,the elderlyy, libraries and just about any public sector job, along with middle earners when they could be going after, say, second home owners. 44K is not that much when you live in a wealthy area, and homes cost 250K.

I have no problem with giving it up – we earn alot more than £44k and even tho’ we have lost thousands in income due to my husband’s loss of his personal allowance, I think it’s crazy that the majority of my friends either don’t notice it, or save it for luxuries. What I do disagree with is the higher tax rate band. £44k a year is not a lot of money – and the band has not been raised for decades. I think it should be nearer £64k. That feels fair.

I am shock that they are scrapping the child benefit!!! this is so unfair….we fall on the high income category, but by no mean are we living life of luxuries, and its really not high after mortgage and all the bills has been paid off, i dont know what planet our goverment lives in????….my husband is the sole earner as we cant afford chidcare for my three children if I went to work. we live a very modest lifestyle and we dont even go out because even a trip to the cinema would mean increasing our credit card balance…which we are never going to pay off!!! i am hurt that i voted for a goverment that really dont care for hard honest working families like mine. and this will mean that my children will no longer be able to continue their music lessons at school as we can no longer afford that too!!! however people on benefits can afford to smoke and loiter in fast food shops!!! very upset and very angry!!!

I think this is the start of some really shocking cuts. I work in local government and we are fully expecting between 25 and 40% job cuts. It is likely I will be made redundant. This will have a further shocking impact and could mean we lose the house and we will be plunged further into debt. I dont think we will be the only ones affected this way. People will lose their homes, and I think the knock on impact on even the most basic services will be shocking. All this comes at a time when additional money is being promised for overseas aid which without meaning to seen un-Christian, seems totally wrong to me. I think the Government is going about this all the wrong way and I for one (as a newly paid up union member) will be voting Labour in the future.yeah, its all us people who are actually earning and in the private rental/mortgage sector that are hit by this. it just pushes everyone in the middle further down instead of enableing everyone to work thier way up and out. keep the rich rich and make the poor poorer.

its all us people who are actually earning and in the private rental/mortgage sector that are hit by this. it just pushes everyone in the middle further down instead of enableing everyone to work thier way up and out. keep the rich rich and make the poor poorer. the banks should pay. along with all these companies who make billions of dollars in profits…. ???? while people can’t feed and clothe thier children??? it doesn’t make sense. and i saw the wage for an apprentice ship was 2.50 an hour? and minimum wage is 5.??? it’s disgusting. living a decent life and making something of yourself should pay off more. it should equate… work hard… make life better, sit on your ass, not get anything. need fairdinkum genuine help? then it should be available for those who need it, but to have a system that almost forces people down into a hole is wrong.

I’m not happy in the slightest about child benefit being cut as a SAHM with husband working we fall into the category who will loose the benefit. It would however be much easier to loose if I knew people earning upto £86K as a joint income weren’t still entitled to claim it.

Tricky one as everyone’s circumstances are different. I think people should be taxed proportionately rather than in tax bands this would be fairer most importnatly any tax loop hole would have to be rigourously closed. If it was fair and not onerous people would not be bothered to avoid it and all would benefit.

If we consider that this is apparently a deficit cutting measure, it becomes an even more absurd and unfair decision. Why should families pay the price for a failed economy? Why should our children? And I’m sorry but if you think the issue of mothers not receiving enough cash from working fathers is a dead one, you are simply living in a different world.

We too are affected – why has the government done something to so directly attack the family? David Cameron speaks as if all higher rate tax payers live in the lap of luxury – perhaps in his home they do but that is not the experience of most. We struggle to provide for our children, avoid debt and be responsible citizens who contribute to our communities. It seems like a another kick in the teeth for families – why are children and motherhood not valued more? Is anyone organising a protest? I will be there if they are this must be overturned!

Fair Osborne clearly doesn’t have a clue what that word means. My husband just got a promotion at work and is now just over the threshold, I work part time and most of my pay goes into childcare. Someone could be living next door on a joint income of £47,999.99 and still get CB how is that fair! CB pays for clothes and school shoes which they might grow out of several times a year and cost as much as an adults. Food, petrol costs keep rising and now falling into higher tax rate we’ll have to pay more in taxes, VAT is increasing by 5% in Jan so that’s another hit. We can live without Child tax credit which is set in accordance to joint income but child benefit is a major hit. How can they say its too complicated and expensive to do its already being done in child tax credits. Even for those parents who save it for there kids it’s important as if our kids want to go to uni they now have to pay increasing fees which wasn’t the case when we went to uni. Thus meaning they start their working life in debt and not a small debt either. Part of me wishes my husband hadn’t got his promotion because now he’ll put in more hours for less pay than before, what’s the point of working hard.

Because the Tories don’t want to pay for the staff to conduct means testing if you earn over 43k you are expected to do your own tax return to declare you are claiming Child benefit and then they will tax you extra to reclaim money!! Yeah so all the people on PAYE they expect to do a seld assesment tax form just to claim back child benefit….,, don’t think this will wotrk somehow !! They have not factored in the admin needed to implement this. Our government does very little to promote people to go find a good job and work hard, but it does seem to pander to the work shy. Some people find themselves in difficult situations due to lots of reasons and of course society should help,but there are so many people tricking the system. It’s SO annoying I have to pay my tax from my hard earned business which I stared myself when girls as young as 20 claim benefits because intheir own words " can’t be bothered to work. Ok rant over!

Can’t believe they are doing this . I have a total income of £48,000, £2000 for me and £44,00 for my husband. | I have two children 1 in university and a teenager, | also have a mortgage .I cannot manage on in £48,000 not a great salary in this day and age. The conservatives have got our votes under false pretences. It’s disgusting

Sadly £44000 is not the massive wage it first appears to be, especially when it falls in to the 40 per cent tax bracket and is needed to cover a family of five living in London. Cutting child benefit is an attack on children, women and families. When are we taking to the streets? All the best, Deirdre

Yep. Thanks Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne for showing how much of a "con" the Conservatives are so soon. I am a single mum earning over 44,000 which, in London, as the previous posters have said, isn’t a great deal. I would love to work part-time and pick my son up from school a couple of days a week but can’t afford it. Now the evil rich-boy tories are taking away a benefit that really helps us mums, single or otherwise, to pay for essentials like shoes and school uniform. I agree that we should protest in some way. Liz – how about spearheading the campaign and get yourself to Downing Street! Yvonne

Having been left in a house with a huge mortgage and five children and not enough maintenance to pay the bills,thanks to the stupid legal system that definitely doesn’t think women who stay at home contribute as much to a marriage. Plus potentially not enough equity to buy something smaller at the moment the child benefit is essential for us at the moment. We lose £300 thanks to this change, that’s a huge amount that I relied upon since my husband left! 🙁

Oh my goodness, listen to yourselves. Having children is a choice, so why is it up to the state to help pay for them? We’ve been so lucky for so long but at a terrible price. This country will go bankrupt if drastic measures aren’t taken now and then what do you think will happen to your childrens futures? And it was government spending that caused the huge deficit, not the bankers (although they did pay a large part in the global recession). Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own lives and the strongest shld support the weakest but at the end of the day, as with nature, it’s the survival of the fittest.

Well said Lottie….totally agree with you. No-one likes having money taken away from them but while £44,000 certainly doesn’t mean you are rich, no one in this income bracket is going to be on the breadline because they no longer get child benefit.

I’m miles away from the cut off even though we both work so i won’t be affected. i do agree that if you are earning 40K+ i don’t think you need child benefit, i wouldn’t even know what to do with 40K a year i’d live like a millionaire!! I’m not happy with the cuts and the tories (i didn’t vote for them) what are they going to cut next? Maternity pay? paternity pay? statitory sick pay?

In 2009, there were 31 million people working and paying tax in the UK. Anyone earning over £44,881 per year before tax was in the top 10% of earners. Read that again … the top 10%. That equates to approx 3.1 million people and means that around 29 million people were earning less than that and 24 million earned less than £32,000. Living and working in London is a choice you make. (Well over 7 million people live in Greater London and the majority will be on much less than £44000.) Having children is a choice you make. Staying at home to look after those children is a choice you make. Most people don’t earn enough to have that luxury.

yes i agree with them loosing it…………i can only get a part time job at 16hrs because that is all there was, so i get working tax credit. I am now going to loose this which its a lot more than their child benefit and I’m a lot poorer than they are. now all i am going to get is a couple of pound more than i was on the dole. my partner is unable to work as she is expecting, i would like a good well paid full time job but now there is going to be a lot more competition out there, if there wasn’t already enough as it is.

Having a large family is a choice, as is being a stay-at-home mum(or dad), and it should not be the function of the State to help people to do this. Obviously poorer people should not be prevented from having any children because they can’t afford to, and children should not be punished for the irresponsibility of their parents. However, I don’t think Child Benefit is the best way of helping with this. I think it should be scrapped completely and the money put into more targeted schemes like Sure Start and Pupil Premium.

Yes, having a family is a choice and there are less large families in the UK today than there was years ago. Peoples choices have changed because of modern lifestyles and many more are deciding to do higher education instead. The reason there are more people in the UK today is because we are now part of Europe and have become a multicultural society, so we should not stigmatise large families. Schemes to get people into work are good but the country needs a lot more jobs for them to work. Once I worked 60hrs a week and earned 20,000 a year but I am unable to get that now. Manufacturing and industry has been in-decline for many years and the amount of people out number the amount of jobs available, hence the low wages. The state gives handouts because we don’t have a living wage and housing etc, is unaffordable for many. Our economy is getting more expensive all the time, 20,000 today is worth less than it was a few years ago. The way things are going people with what use to be considered a good income, will begin to start to feel poor and will have to start claiming benefits themselves. All we can hope for, is that this government gets the jobs and the wages people need so they wont require benefits but that is probably just a pipe dream.

I am getting depressed at the unfair child benefit change. I’ve worked hard all my life so I can earn a bit more money to care for my family. Does the government think higher rate tax payers are just lucky? Earning slightly more than others is a result of years of effort, stress and long hours. To penalise that hard work is just wrong. Why should I work really hard to earn £ 50 k, only to take home £ 2,300 more than someone that earns £ 42 k (with the same number of children)? The last £ 8k is effectively taxed at 70%. My wife doesn’t work, because two of our kids are pre-school. The childcare costs would swallow almost all her earnings. It is totally unfair that a couple with older children, who can both easily work, can earn double us and still get child benefit. Two lower rate tax payers can take home more than double one higher rate because they benefit from two people’s tax allowances. Many families will be less affected by this unfair change than me. Those with two incomes anyway, or earning £ 60k + probably won’t feel the pinch. Families with just one child might wonder what the fuss is. We however, are facing real financial problems. In the South East, a ‘higher rate’ income is not enough to rent or buy a family sized home. We already only just get by (no foreign holidays). I might cut back to four days a week if my company will let me. Then my wife can work one day a week (paying no tax) and we get to keep our child benefit. I feel completely unfairly treated.

So the way I understand it is that CB is being scrapped for households where one or more people earn over the tax threshold. In reality this could mean that a household with a combined income of £80,000 will continue to receive the benefit, but a single parent earning just over the threshold will lose it. I fail to see how this can be considered at all fair! It will affect us, I think I read today that we would need to increase our earnings by £4500 to compensate for the loss. Downsizing is not an option so we’ll manage, and I’m sure we can. I’m not so sure that everyone who is losing out will be able to though…